2024 Model State Program- University of Arkansas

Commodities

Practices

The Arkansas 2024-2025 SARE PDP Model State Program will focus on increasing knowledge and developing skills in specialty crop production as well as sustainable agricultural practices. The developed trainings and events will be made available to Cooperative Extension staff, UA and UAPB faculty, staff and students, USDA staff, farmers’ market managers, other agriculture professionals, and farmer leaders. Proposed activities include a specialty crop agent training and a National Center for Appropriate Technology Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (NCAT ATTRA) event on sustainable agricultural practices as well as providing travel scholarships for agriculture leaders to attend regional meetings focused on sustainable agriculture. Program participants will be assessed for changes in their knowledge, confidence, and ability to share new information related to sustainable agriculture.  As a result of these trainings and workshops, the knowledge of, interest in, and application of sustainable practices by Arkansas farmers and agriculture professionals will continue to expand in Arkansas, leading to thriving farms and vibrant communities.

The overall goal of the AR SARE PDP program is to expand the understanding and application of sustainable agriculture concepts by agriculture professionals including Extension agents and specialists, farmers market managers, farmer leaders and others, to facilitate the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices among Arkansas farmers.  We accomplish this through program training events, supporting externally organized training events, providing travel scholarships to sustainable agriculture events, and communicating SARE resources, grant results, and opportunities.  Our secondary goal is to increase the awareness of the SARE program among agriculture leaders in Arkansas, the resources it provides and increase awareness of training opportunities and scholarships for Arkansas agriculture leaders interested in sustainable agriculture. 

Our annual SARE-PDP plan is developed through the input of the state advisory board, county extension agents and specialists, and previous workshop participants. The 2024-2025 program builds on past programs and relationships and addresses areas of interest by producers and ag leaders.  We continue to invest in sending agents and farmer mentors to conferences that provide sustainable agriculture-focused training including the Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable conference, the Southern Family Farmers & Food Systems Conference, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s Sustainable Agriculture Conference, and the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference. These conferences are well-received by our agents and farmer leaders and are opportunities for them to gain new information and engage in sustainable agriculture networks.

There is a growing interest in specialty crop production in East Arkansas. However, since this area has been predominantly row crop production, agents in this region lack knowledge of specialty crop production. To support this growing interest, we plan to provide a multi-part training series that targets different specialty crops: fruit, vegetable and tree  topics will provide us with the opportunity to highlight operations currently growing these type of crops in East Arkansas.

There is also an increased interest in moving towards more sustainable agricultural practices in Arkansas. This interest provides an opportunity to collaborate with organizations such as the NCAT to educate agricultural professionals on a variety of topics related to sustainable agriculture. These trainings will also allow agricultural professionals to hear from specialists in these fields and receive updated information and resources on specialty crop production and sustainable agricultural practices that they can share with their communities.

Based on this information, our outreach objectives for the AR-SARE PDP program include:

1. UADA-CES agents, farmers, and other agricultural professionals will increase their knowledge of specialty crop production and sustainable agricultural practices.
2. UADA-CES agents will travel to the Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s Sustainable Agriculture Conference,the Southern Family Farmers & Food Systems Conference, and the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group to increase their awareness and knowledge of sustainable agriculture concepts and will be better equipped to provide farmers with guidance on implementing new practices on their farm.
3. Agriculture professionals in Arkansas (UADA-CES agents and specialists, NRCS staff, farmers market managers, farmer leaders) will increase their recognition of the SARE program through promotion of SARE and SSARE resources, AR-SARE PDP activities on listservs, website, and blog through increased visibility at events around the state.